Methane, a major constituent of landfill gas, starts to form as soon as solid waste is placed in the landfill and typically continues for 20-50 years after the facility is dormant. Therefore, it is not surprising that America's landfills, all 1,812 of them, collectively constitute the second largest source of this harmful, heat-trapping gas.

Turning Negative to Positive

Current landfill management measures include passive and active systems that collect, control and treat these gases in order to optimize methane capture. Most operators simply burn off the collected methane, a process known as "flaring." Some, while still flaring the excess, are also exploring ways to use methane gas to generate electricity, fire boilers or substitute for other energy sources, thereby turning a potential liability into a benefit.

Whichever strategy (or combination of strategies) landfill operators may implement, Biolithe can play a valuable role by enabling them to better control the timing and quantity of methane release.

Landfill as Laboratory

For reasons of necessity, or because valid environmental concerns and aggressive public policies demand it, landfills are turning into scientific laboratories to showcase and test new methane management solutions. Some of these methods include:

• Waste-to-energy operations. With state of the art filtration systems, waste-to-energy facilities convert standard municipal waste into electricity and heat. Currently, European developments in this area have far exceeded our own. The U.S. has only 87 government-owned incinerating plants, and they are older, less efficient facilities that account for a paltry 7% of our solid waste and spew out dioxins, mercury and other toxic byproducts in the process.
• Landfill methane sequestration. These projects have been heavily endorsed and encouraged by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to offset the use and cost of carbon fuels, reduce unwanted emissions and improve local air quality. Unfortunately, only 25% of U.S. landfills collect gas for energy; those that do lose upwards of 25% of greenhouse gases to fugitive emissions. To make matters worse, when excess methane is flared-off it leaves behind carcinogenic pollutants.
• Improved landfill designs. Some landfills are increasing oxidation levels to help prevent methanogenic bacteria from consuming organic waste. Others achieve reduced methane production by installing re-circulatory, semi-aerobic systems using collection piping and air blowers.

A Long Way to Go

These new technologies, along with other initiatives sponsored by educational institutions, corporations and the federal government, are promising. However, their implementation has been slow and incomplete, even as our solid waste production mounts. For better or worse, due to the availability of cheap land, political roadblocks in environmental legislation and the throw-away behaviors of our consuming mass society, it appears that landfills will be our primary means of waste disposal for many years to come.

A Big Head Start

The integration of Biolithe into paper and packaging products, and their eventual arrival in our nation's landfills, will provide landfill operators with an opportunity to improve their methane-reduction and waste-to-energy efforts.

This is critical if we are to reduce greenhouse gases before irreversible environmental damage is done. Working together, we can all do our part individually and as a global community to improve and protect the health of our planet.